I read the thread about the Dyson vacumn cleaners, and how y’all loved yours. A few weeks later, when my old hoover took a dump. I got The Animal! and I’ll never look back.
I suffered and suffered with Internet Explorer, but was handcuffed by my school district’s lock-down of my computer that wouldn’t let me install programs. I read all the threads about different browsers and the day I got my Admin rights on this machine, downloaded and installed Firefox. How did I ever survive without this?
When I put my 20 year old cat to sleep, and I had to let some of that go, I did it here, and found so much support, I was stunned. My daughter read all the posts in that thread and told me she thought you all were the neatest folks.
When I rescued a new kitten I shared that here and have in return recieved good advice, encouragement and been able to share in some great pet stories.
Don’t know how many damn recipes and ideas I’ve clipped or saved from here. Whoever it was gave out that hobo-thing with a mess of eggs and potatoes and a skillet, damn you to hell for making me eat that much at one sitting!!!
Either by asking directly, or by reading other people’s questions and the answers given, I’ve had dozens of “ah-ha” moments, learning something I didn’t know before.
Just last night, my husband made his usual comments about piss odor after a dinner that included asparagus. Not only could I tell him what caused the smell and that there are some people who can’t smell it, I was able to throw in the “why cilantro tastes like soap to some people” stuff. He was totally flabbergasted, “Where do you learn all that stuff?!”.
#1- obviously the fact that I am in college. This board has influenced me in so many ways, but the fact that it got me motivated to go to college, even though I am 28 with no previous schooling other than highschool.
#2- World awareness. I am much more aware of politics, of peoples feelings, and of things like racism and other forms of bigotry.
#3- My opinon may be wrong. What I think to be correct may be just plain wrong. This board not only humbles me, it makes me aware that I am not the smartest person around, and that my minor accomplisments or skills aren’t a pass to be arrogant or think of myself as better than everybody.
That’s just off the top of my head. This board has shaped me from an ignorant factory worker, to a much less ignorant college student that is getting a handle on his life.
Four years, seven months, two weeks, two days, 10 hours, 25 minutes and 38 seconds on, I’m grateful for 25371 cigarettes not smoked, $8,457.38 saved and apparently I’ll live an extra 12 weeks, 4 days, 2 hours, 15 minutes. W00t!
I became an atheist because of this site. Especially with the erudite postings of Diogenes the Cynic, Opus1, and David B (are those last two still around).
#1) Finding out about all the biblical contradictions. Most, if not all, were impossible to reconcile unless you went through some insanely complicated process of assumptions and rationalizations. Why didn’t God make things clearer?
#2) Reading up on the early history of the church and bible: the problems with the canon, biblical interpolations influenced by politics, questionable authors, the slow growth before Constantine forced it, etc. And here I thought God was in charge of everything.
I’ve been posting to the SDMB for eight years, and it’s had a pretty significant impact on my life (mostly positive, I hope). Most of my friends I met in some way through the Dope, although a lot of them have moved on.
In a more abstract sense, the SDMB has given me a much broader view of the world than I previously held. I grew up in a very left-wing environment, and went to college in a truly harcore leftie - bordering on socialist - town. I really accepted a lot of the ideas I had been spoon-fed, and in that situation it was difficult to question ideas. If you question them, why, you must be some sort of neo-fascist! Now get back in line!
I’m still a liberal, don’t get me wrong, but the SDMB has taught me to investigate the what and the why, and not to simply accept every idea just because “everyone knows it’s so”. And Republicans aren’t necessarily evil, even! It can be worthwhile to discuss issues with someone who holds other viewpoints, imagine that!
A year and a half ago I posted this in my livejournal:
The Straight Dope Message Board was my link to ideas from outside my little circle of life. The style of debate here spurred me to move from my previous mentality of “I’ve got a list of things I read or heard in authoritative places which I can trust” to a new one of “Everything’s up for questioning.” I wholeheartedly switched from taking shelter in my roots to embracing the fight against ignorance as a core of my worldview. Where before I might have assumed “Nobody knows” and been satisfied, now I say “I don’t know… but I can find out!” It took my previous penchant for rational questioning and fertilized it to maturity. And that’s good, because there were some things that were very important for me to learn:
Through the SDMB, I came to find that, for example, gay people aren’t a bizarre bunch of sickos meeting in dark motel rooms to do disgusting things. I found information here, and links to other sites, where I could come to see that whole issue very differently. And once I came to see that there are plenty of good reasons to believe it’s okay to be gay… it wasn’t a big leap to see and admit something about myself.
If it weren’t for the sensible discussion and the horizon-expansion of the SDMB, it might have taken me years longer to realise what was going on and to come out. It might have been a lot more difficult, too.
The SDMB has played a major part in both my intellectual maturation and in my coming out.
Plus, the SDMB gave me an opportunity to see some places in the world I wouldn’t have, on Dopefests.
Aside from the enormous amounts of much-needed laughter I’ve gotten out of these boards, I’ve learned a lot about myself just by lurking. I’ve had core beliefs shaken and eventually completely rethought because of things I’ve read here.
These boards have helped me motivate myself to do things, from reading a specific book to writing a novel in a month, that I honestly would probably never have done on my own.
I’ve accumulated so much general information from this place that my friends and co-workers think me a genius. And perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned at least a hundred different ways to insult someone… and that is what life is all about
